Jury Duty

Have been on phone-in jury duty - and was called in yesterday. Went in, spent a not-too-awful time waiting [as the 'gophers in my side' clawed a bit] - got on a panel and had initial info on a criminal trial told us. We were told the 4 ways currently accepted to get off a jury - and dismissed until 1:30 pm. This would let the judge go thru the horde of potential jurors wanting to either get off for reasons 1-4 - or 'had other questions' = like me. Maybe 1/3 of the jurors fell into these categories: about 60-ish people.

After about an hour, as folks were dealt with 1 by 1, I got in to pose my question - about my post-herpetic neuropathy making me currently unfit for service. After explanation, the judge agreed and deferred my service to the week of August 30 ... and for crying out loud I *better* be over this freaking pain by then! That said, if it HAD been possible, I would have LIKED to have been a juror for this judge [the honorable Patricia Lucas]. She was VERY with it - and handled a malfunctioning microphone with aplomb. Her bailiff was cool, too, and made me laugh even tho I was in active pain.

I almost wanted to go thru with it -now- except I would've been a disruption with the stifled pain sounds, twitching and interrupted attention span.